03-12-2023 – “Change That Shows”

Bible Text: Luke 7:36-50 | Speaker: Pastor Mike Hale | Series: book study of Luke | Above are the
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March 12, 2023
“Change That Shows”
Luke 7:36-50

(full sermon notes)

 

Read 7:36-38… 

 

As we have previously studied, both John the Baptizer and Jesus the Messiah confronted the Pharisees as hypocrites.  At this time in our narrative, John is still imprisoned at Herod’s palace and Jesus is preaching the gospel, while bringing comfort and healing to the people..

We will read Luke’s account of John’s execution, when we get to chapter 9:7-9, which chronologically follows the event of Jesus sending out the Twelve to proclaim the Kingdom of God and heal diseases, Luke 9:1-6.

Luke was serious about providing an accurate account in his narrative (Luke 1:1-3), “Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile an account of the things accomplished among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word, it seemed fitting for me as well, having investigated everything carefully from the beginning, to write it out for you in consecutive order.”

And so it shouldn’t surprise us to find that both Matthew’s and Mark’s gospel accounts follow the same timeframe as Luke’s, in reference to Jesus sending out the Twelve (Matthew 10:1-15; Mark 6:7-13), along the subsequent record of John’s death which seems to follow that event (Matthew 14:1-12; Mark 6:14-29).

Back to Luke 7:36…  Jesus is, no doubt, fully aware of the Pharisee’s real intentions for inviting Him to his house for a meal.  We will learn that this Pharisee’s name is Simon, and like other Pharisees, he hopes to somehow discredit Jesus as the Messiah, or better yet, have Him arrested as a blasphemer, and removed from the public’s eyes and ears.

Note: Luke will, in subsequent chapters, record two more incidents where Jesus is an invited guest to the house of a Pharisee (11:37-54; 14:1-24).  It was common practice for one of the religious elites to invite a traveling Rabbi to their house for a meal and conversation; this allowed them to engage the Rabbi in theological discussions in order to clarify certain teachings and/or traditions, while also giving the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law an opportunity to display their knowledge concerning these things.  However, for the most part, the Pharisees hoped to force Jesus into incriminating Himself as an enemy of orthodox Judaism, and therefore, in their unbelieving hearts and minds, as an enemy of God.

See again Luke 7:37-38…  Evidently, this woman had heard that Jesus was present, so she came to find Him.  When she entered the Pharisee’s house she wasn’t immediately recognized, although she is said to be (verse 39) a “known” sinner, most likely a prostitute, as she carried valuable perfume in a vial made of alabaster vial [expensive marble from Egypt]; and if the self-righteous Pharisee had recognized her coming into his house, he would have forbidden her to enter.

You might be wondering how this “known” sinner gained entrance to the Pharisee’s house?  Well, it was quite common, that when a Pharisee was showing off his religious elite position with a ‘by invitation only’ meal, in order to entertain a favored Rabbi, the doors and windows of his house would remain open so that people could listen from outside or come in and find standing room around the invited guests who were seated at the table.

`    Anyway, the woman is in the house and has approached Jesus and is standing behind Him.  She seems to be overcome with emotion to be in the Lord’s presence, and she begins weeping, using her tears to wipe Jesus’ feet.

Note: In order to wipe Jesus’ feet with her hair, she would have hd to let it down [In the Jewish culture of Christ’s day, it was considered indecent for a woman to let down her hair in public, because it was symbol of her beauty as a woman, and it was reserved only for the eyes of her husband, if married, or the eyes of her father, if not married.

She begins kissing Jesus’ feet and anointing them with her perfume.  This is too much for the self-righteous Pharisee to take; and no doubt, some of the guests are wondering why this woman would think she could approach, touch, and make such a display of emotion in front of all these favored guests.

Read Luke 7:39…  The Pharisee who invited Jesus seems to be challenging as to whether or not Jesus really is a prophet of God; after all, if Jesus can’t sense that she is a sinner, He must not be from God; for no man of God would allow such a woman to touch Him.  In the mind of the Pharisee and the other religious leaders, Jesus is not the Messiah!

See Luke 5:17-21…  Some Pharisees and teachers of the law had come to check out Jesus, and they were sitting and listening to Him, as He taught.

Jesus is going to perform a miraculous healing (Luke 5:17) it says, “the power of the Lord was upon Him.”

Jesus is now proclaiming the good news in a crowded room, when four men (cf. Mark 2:3-4) carry in a paralytic, but can’t get to Jesus through the crowd, so they go up the outside stairway to the roof, dig through the thatch and earth, remove the roof tiles, then lower the man through the exposed beams to the room below (as dirt, no doubt, showered all those underneath).

Luke 5:19 says, Jesus “saw their faith,” and said to the paralytic, “Friend, your sins are forgiven you.”  It probably seemed clear to most everyone that the man’s biggest need was to be able to walk.

The paralytic and his friends believed Jesus could heal him.  Jesus exposes the condition of the man’s heart which can’t be seen, forgiving his sins.  This man has just received forgiveness for sin, but he still can’t walk.

     See again Luke 5:21, “The scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, ‘Who is this man who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?’”

Isaiah 43:25, “I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake, and I will not remember your sins.”

Isaiah 44:22, “I have wiped out your transgressions like a thick cloud and your sins like a heavy mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.”

Jeremiah 31:34, “I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more,” (Hebrews 10:17-18), “‘And their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.’ Now where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer any offering for sin.”

The Pharisees who witnessed Jesus forgiving sin, considered Him to be a blasphemer, for only God can forgive sins.  Jesus knew what was in their hearts, so He responded (Luke 5:22-25), “Why are you reasoning in your hearts? Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins have been forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But, so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,”—He said to the paralytic—‘I say to you, get up, and pick up your stretcher and go home.’ Immediately he got up before them, and picked up what he had been lying on, and went home glorifying God.”

The religious leaders, for the first time in the Biblical record, directly oppose Jesus in Luke 5, but they would continue to oppose, reject, capture and kill Him, but not until God allows it to happen (Acts 2:22-24), “Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know— this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power.”

Jesus claimed to be God, because He was God, He could not be captured or put to death, until God said so.  No one could take Jesus by force (John 10:17-18), “I lay down My life – only to take it up again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”

Read Luke 7:40-43…  We are now told the Pharisees name, Simon.  Jesus speaks to Simon, in order to teach him sovereign Biblical truth, through the use of a parable about two men.  These men each owe money to the same person; one owes 500 denarii, the other owes 50 denarii [a denarius is equal to one day’s pay for a common laborer].

Neither of the men are able to pay what they owe to the lender, who graciously forgives both their debts.  Jesus asks Simon (verse 42) which of the debtors will love the benefactor more, to which Simon replies (verse 43), “I suppose the one whom he forgave more.”   Jesus tells Simon he has answered correctly.

Read Luke 7:44-48…  From the very moment the woman came into Simon’s house, she did not cease to show love to the Lord; where as, Simon didn’t show Jesus the hospitality of allowing His feet to be washed (a common custom in Israel at this time).

The point is, the woman’s display of love toward Jesus was not in order to receive forgiveness, but because her sins, of which there were many, had already been forgiven.

The phrase spoken by Jesus to the woman, “Your sins have been forgiven,” is in the perfect tense, which describes an action that has already taken place, i.e., the woman had already been forgiven her sins, even before she came into the house.

This woman’s display of love and affection for Jesus was not done in order to get something from Him; for she had already been granted forgiveness.  This woman had already repented of her sins, believing in Jesus to save her.

Simon, on the other hand, like most Pharisees, considered himself to be right with God simply because he was an Israelite; much like the Pharisees who came out to John the Baptizer at the Jordon River, unwilling to repent of their sins, they remained at enmity with God, condemned to an eternal hell.

     Read Luke 7:49-50…  Jesus doesn’t say, your sins are now forgiven.  He says, “Your sins have been forgiven,” describing something already completed in the past, that continues to provide results in the present and the future.  When you sincerely ask God to forgive your sins, all your sins [past, present, and future] are forgiven.

The love this woman expressed for Jesus was because she had already received forgiveness for all her sins, through faith in Jesus Christ.  Where as Simon, and the rest of the self-righteous religious leaders, reclining at the table with Jesus, instead of repenting of sin and believing in Him for forgiveness (verse 49), “[They] began to say to themselves, ‘Who is this man who even forgives sins?’”

The woman’s expressed love for the Lord was in response to the love and forgiveness she had already received because of her faith in God’s Son (verse 50) Jesus said to her “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

Hebrews 11:6, “Without faith it is impossible to please [God], for he who comes to God must believe that God is and that God is a rewarder of those who seek Him.”

As a believer and follower of Jesus Christ [God’s Son, Lord and Savior], you have received forgiveness for all your sins and eternal life through Jesus Christ.

Jesus said, concerning those who would believe in Him (John 8:32), “you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”  What is the Truth?  Jesus said (John 14:6), “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”

Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”

What does that mean?  Romans 3:10-12; 23-24; 6:23; 5:8: 8:1; 10:9-10, 13.

2Corinthians 5:21, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

Jesus died on a cross to set you free from sin’s penalty taking our punishment for sin and then demonstrating eternal life by His own resurrection from the grave.

Jesus died for you, so that you might live for Him, now and forever.

Ephesians 2:8-10, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them” (cf. 2Corinthians 5:17).

     If you have genuinely been changed by Christ, it will show, for you will seek to honor God (Colossians 3:17), “Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.”

 

 

 
Pastor Mike
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